Major new museum show unshackles convict stories from myth
The exhibition spotlights freedom fighters among Australia’s early convicts to reframe well-worn narratives around their fates as dispossessed victims. Instead, it argues their organised actions helped shape the nation’s democracy.
The many faces of Australia’s early political activists whose stories feature in the Unshackled exhibition. Image: Supplied.
It is often said that a defining feature of our times is that some of the world’s most stable democracies are under growing and unprecedented threat.
As extremist politicians rise to the top levels and waves of disinformation spread at record speed, it’s a time when, after years of taking democratic freedoms for granted, many people are realising those freedoms could just as easily be taken away from them.
‘Muir would routinely distribute [activist] information calling for democratic change as unstamped print media in the post,’ he continues.
ArtsHub's Arts Feature Writer Jo Pickup is based in Perth. An arts writer and manager, she has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for media such as the ABC, RTRFM and The West Australian newspaper, contributing media content and commentary on art, culture and design. She has also worked for arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, STRUT dance, and the Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub of WA, as well as being a sessional arts lecturer at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
